Playing With Fire
by therecordwontstopskipping
Summary: Wouldn't it be cool to be able to control fire? Or water, or air, or earth? Bella Swan thought so. But when her friend reveals herself to be an Elemental and Bella's powers start to develop, bringing along danger . . . well, suddenly, it's not so fun. BxE
1. Chapter 1

_AN: So this is the story that one the poll. If you voted for it, well. . . _

_Tada!_

_If you didn't vote for it, oh well._

_If you have no idea what I'm talking about, hahah!_

_Aha. Just kidding. _

_Disclaimer: SM owns everything. I own the plot. _

_--------------------------------------------_

The fire around her roared and smoke covered the air in a heavy fog. She had failed! How could she have failed?! It was all worked out perfectly, everything was going according to plan. What had gone wrong?

The fire grew to new sizes, yet still she stood there, almost in awe of it. It had turned against her so quickly, almost as if-

She drew in a startled breath.

Almost as if someone else was controlling it.

It was the only possibility. But who else could raise fire, make it bend to their will. . . ?

The answer came to her in a startlingly quick instant.

_No. There's no way. . . . _

As if hearing her thoughts, a voice from behind her cackled. She whirled around and faced the person who had turned the fire against her.

"You!" she gasped. She inhaled a lungful of smoke and choked on it.

"How could you?" she questioned.

"Very easily," the other person said. "It was quite easy, once I killed him."

"No!" she shouted at him. "You're a filthy liar."

"You're the one believing in the lie, my dear."

She tried to grasp the fire with her mind, bring it back to her control. But it failed, just like the plan.

-:-

Bella Swan bolted up in her bed, breathing heavily. What the hell had that dream meant? Controlling fire? And someone. . . someone died? The dream was slipping through her fingers like water and within seconds, all she was left with was an impression of heat. Bella pushed the thin sheets off of her and got out of her bed. She walked over to her window and stared out at the merciless Phoenix sun. Oh, how she would miss it. Bella was moving to Forks, land of gloom and doom. It was her self-imposed purgatory, living in Forks with her father. But she would do it willing, a fake smile plastered on her lips.

All for her loving mother.

It wasn't Bella fault that Renee had gotten married to Phil; nor was it Bella's fault that Renee missed Phil when he was gone. But in a sick, twisted way, it was Bella's fault for causing Renee so much pain. As much as Renee loved Phil, she loved Bella more and Bella knew how much it was hurting Renee to let Bella move to Forks to live with her father. But since Bella was turning 18 in six months, there wasn't much Renee could do about it.

Bella sighed and walked away from the window. She would be leaving at twelve o'clock, and it was already half past eight. She would have to get ready quickly.

-:-

The plane bumped down onto the tar mat and Bella winced and gritted her teeth. The entire plane ride from Phoenix to Seattle had had turbulence, and now the shorter flight from Seattle to Port Angeles had also had turbulence. Bella sighed and got up as the captain came on, thanking the passengers for riding with Blue Skies Flying. Bella grabbed her one bag from the overhead compartment and walked out of the plane into the crowded terminal. She spied Charlie, her father, waiting by the baggage claim and felt a smile growing on her lips. Charlie had always made her feel comfortable, no matter where she was. He was the one unchanging point in her life; always there for her.

"Bells!" Charlie shouted. Bella winced at the nickname, but accepted the hug. "Ready to go?"

"Let's go home, Dad."

Charlie beamed at her.

-:-

The main office was a tiny building, separate from the rest of them. Bella stepped out of the warm interior of the welcome home present Charlie had gotten her --an old Chevy truck-- and walked into the office. It was a small brick structure that had the feel of an old English tea shop, rather than a high school office.

"Hello there, dearie. What can I get for you?"

Bella looked at the old woman.

Huh. Guess she thought this was an English tea shop too.

"I'm Isabella Swan," Bella said. "I'm supposed to be given my schedule here?" It came out sounding more like a question.

Instantly, the old woman perked up. "Ah yes, Chief Swan's daughter. We've been waiting for you."

Before Bella could comment on just how B-movie that line sounded, the woman disappeared behind a pile of stacked papers. She dug through it until she pulled out two sheets of paper.

"This-" she handed the first sheet over to Bella. "-is your schedule." She handed over the second sheet, a bright pink sheet of paper. "And make sure to get all of your teachers to sign this sheet. Bring it back at the end of the day."

Bella smiled at her. "Thank you."

And she left the warm cozy office to face the Forks High School (_Home of the Spartans!_) population.

-:-

Mr. Mason, the English teacher, gawked when he saw the name on the sheet. Not exactly an encouraging response. Bella smiled blandly at him and wandered to a seat in the back. Hopefully, the students wouldn't be able to stare at her in the back, yet somehow they managed.

Bella rolled her eyes to herself and read over the sheet Mr. Mason had given her. Marvelous. She had read everything on it. Bella sighed and doodled on her notebook. When the bell rang, Bella noticed a boy eyeing her, but she walked away quickly before he could talk to her. The last thing she needed were admirers.

The rest of the day followed in a similar fashion: the teacher would look amazed at the name on the sheet, the students would stare, and Bella would hurry away before anyone could talk to her. But one girl, who was a head shorter than Bella with a mop of curly brown hair to make up for it, ran into her in the halls and steered her towards the cafeteria.

"You'll just have to sit with me and my friends." Here, the girl patted Bella's arm. "I know it must be a big change for you, but don't worry. I'll help you." She gave Bella an exaggerated wink.

Bella tried to stifle a giggle.

The girl led her into the cafeteria, talking the whole time.

"Lauren, she's the blond one over at the table in the middle, she's my best friend here. She gets all the best fashion magazines and when she brings them in. . ."

Bella tuned her out.

Once they got to the lunch line, Bella picked up the first items she put her hands on: a piece of pizza, an apple, and a bottle of water. The girl was still jabbering on about something as Bella paid. The girl led Bella over to her table and made Bella sit before she did.

She began naming everyone.

"That's Mike." A friendly looking boy with spiky blond hair.

"Lauren." A bored looking blond girl who gave Bella a fake smile.

"Angela." A timid brunette who looked up from her book to wave at Bella.

"Katie." A red head who gave Bella a simpering smile and turned to Lauren. She whispered something in Lauren's ear and they both laughed. Bella felt her stomach tighten.

"Tyler." Tyler nodded at Bella, before turning back to Mike and talking about sports.

"And then me, Jessica."

Bella smiled gratefully at her, as if she was thankful for Jessica naming everyone at the table. She missed the halls of her Phoenix high school already. There she would melt into the walls, just be another one of the many students. But in a high school where there was only 350 people, it was hard to be invisible.

"Oh, my God, did you see Roxanne's face?" Jessica asked Katie.

Katie shook her head. "No, what's wrong with it?"

Jessica smirked. "A huge black eye. I want to go thank the person who did it."

Bella felt a rush of anger shoot through her veins.

Katie snickered. "So do I."

Bella stood up, her appetite gone.

Jessica turned to her, her brow creasing. "Where are you going, Isabella?"

"I don't feel very well. I think I'm going to go the nurse." Bella didn't bother correcting Jessica. It's not like Bella would be talking to her for much longer.

Bella threw out her uneaten pizza and apple and walked towards the door in a hurry. Before she would get there, however, she literally ran into someone.

"Sorry," Bella muttered from her position on the floor. She looked up and saw a small petite looking girl. She smiled down at Bella.

"I'm Alice," she said, extending her hand.

_Don't take it! _A deep voice inside of her ordered. Bella ignored it and shook Alice's hand.

"Bella."

"Oh, I know," Alice laughed.

Bella raised an eyebrow; what was with this town and creepy horror movie dialogue?

"You've been the talk of the town for two weeks. It's actually a bit tiring after a while," Alice explained.

"Oh."

_Leave!_ the same voice ordered. For some reason, Bella felt compelled to listen to it.

"Sorry, Alice, but I have to go," Bella said.

"Oh, it's okay. I had to go anyway."

They both left the cafeteria at the same time, but headed in different directions.

-:-

"Sit down next to Cullen," Mr. Banner said after he had signed Bella's pink sheet.

Bella nodded and walked down the aisle towards who she assumed was Cullen. She sat down next to him and shook her hair out. Cullen stiffened and leaned away from her.

_NO! _a calm soothing voice inside of her shrieked. _Whatever you do, don't move! _

Bella became as still as a statue.

_Move your neck away from his view. Hide it. Good! Now move your seat away from him. Just like that. Keep your head down. Don't move._

Bella listened to the voice without question.

The next forty five minutes were torture. Bella tried not to move, and every time she did move, Cullen would stiffen and her terror levels would go up. Finally the bell rang, and Cullen was out of the room before it had stopped ringing. Bella was happy, yet for some reason, almost. . . sad because Cullen had left that quickly. She started to feel angry, though and went off to gym, fuming at the audacity at the "kind" people of Forks.

-:-

She spied Alice talking with three other people in the parking lot as she left. Bella had just handed in her pink slip and started to walk towards her car when she noticed them. Alice frowned, and a blond haired boy wrapped an arm around her protectively. The other blond, a stunning girl, looked around the parking lot.

"Are you sure?" the wind carried the girl's worried voice.

Alice said something, and they all looked alert.

Bella walked away quickly, feeling the need to leave as soon as it was possible.

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_So, about the whole ''voices inside of Bella's head'' thing?_

_Yeah, you'll find out later. But I'll tell you now. She's not crazy._

_Review,  
therecordwontstopskipping_


	2. Chapter 2

_AN: Mad props to my new beta: _

_Angel And Airways_

_I wonder if that has anything to do with the band. . . ._

_Disclaimer: SM owns everything. _

---------------------------------------------

_You play with fire, you gonna get burned. _

_-Unknown_

_-------------------------------------_

It was horrible. It was a tragedy. It was worse than the Titanic sinking. It was the worst thing that had ever happened to mankind.

It was Charlie's cooking.

Bella poked it with her fork and watched it jiggle.

"Dad?" she asked, hearing the laughter that seeped in her voice.

"Yes, Bella?" Charlie answered, looking at her.

"Is pasta supposed to jiggle?" she giggled.

Charlie huffed. "Real funny, Bells. You know I can't cook."

Bella stood up and emptied her pasta/jello hybrid into the garbage. "I think that I'll take over dinner from now on."

"I'll order pizza," said Charlie as he threw his pasta out.

Bella giggled again as she walked up the stairs. She was already feeling better --well, a little bit-- about moving to Forks.

-:-

He wasn't in school the next day.

Or the day after that.

Or for the week after that.

Bella tried to ignore his absence, but she couldn't. It was her fault after all. Not that she was positive about that, but it just had to be her fault. Edward spazzed out after she had sat down, and ran out of the room once the bell had rung. Whatever. Bella would get it over. It wouldn't matter anytime soon.

Right?

Bella shook those thoughts out of her head and tried to concentrate on the teacher in front of her, Mr. Mason. He was talking about Jane Eyre, and most of the class was paying attention to him.

"....why else would Mr. Rochester go into a burning building to save his wife, if he did not love her? Yes, he might have loved Jane, but think about it from his perspective. On one hand, you have a crazy wife that you love, but on the other hand, you have a young girl who you love, too. He still loves his wife, which is why he saved her from the fire."

_Fire_, something inside of Bella hissed.

_--"I **curse** you all!"--_

**_--"_**_You'll **regret** the day **you did this to me**."--_

_--Flames **surrounding her,** smoke billowing overhead. Yes, this was what she needed. The thrill and the heat and **the adreneline** that came with the fire...--_

"Ms. Swan?"

_It was hot. Too hot. Too much fire now. _

_All was lost, he knew that much. But a rush of triumph shot through his veins. They would never find **it.** He had made sure of it._

_And if they never found it, he could come back.  
_**  
_And there would be hell to pay when he did_**_. _

Bella felt herself lose focus. Her limbs deadened, and an unearthly high pitched wailing started up in her head. Her eyes fluttered shut and she fell out of her desk like a puppet who's strings where snipped.

-:-

"Poor dear," a warm voice said over her head.

Her head hurt.

"Must have been the stress from moving all the way from Phoenix to here," another voice commented.

Bella tried to move her fingers. They twitched slightly.

"I heard that she moved here from Phoenix because of behavioral problems," the first voice said, her voice practically oozing gossip.

"Really?" the second voice gasped. "She seems like such a nice girl!"

"I heard that little miss Swan over here was in quite a few fights before she came to Forks."

"No!"

Bella groaned, interrupting their mean spirited gossip.

"Water," she croaked. God, her throat felt so dry. She could hardly stand it.

A glass of water was pushed up against her lips. A drop of water fell onto her tongue and she swallowed it quickly. Once she was done drinking the water, she opened her eyes and  
shifted around on the bed.

"Wher- Where am I?" Bella said slowly.

"The nurse's office," a voice commented from the corner. Bella dragged her eyes slowly over to the person in the corner and drew in a sharp breath when her foggy mind caught up to fact that Edward Cullen was in the nurse's office.

"Oh," she said lightly, begging her voice not to crack or break. "Why am I in the nurse's office?"

As soon as she said that, what had happened in her English class came flooding back to her. She winced and put a hand up to her forehead. Bella had quite the headache.

"Are you alright?" Edward asked. She peered at Edward and did a half-nod-half-shrug moment that left even her confused.

"Just a bit of a headache," Bella said. She looked into his eyes and narrowed hers. Hadn't they been black last week?

Of course they had, she thought to herself. Bella would never forget the violence, the hatred, the immense amount anger those pitch blacks eyes had held.

Don't ask about that, the soothing voice whispered inside of her head. Bella didn't jump; she was used to one voice inside of her talking.

God, that makes me sound insane, Bella thought. But then again, I probably am. Who else has voices in their head?

Edward's lips quirked up into a smile. "I know the feeling." And he stared deep into her eyes, as if trying to find something, searching for something. A few seconds later he frowned.

Obviously, he hadn't found what he was looking for.

_------------------------------------------------------_

_So, I'm a Goddess and a paperboy from the 90s or the 80s._

_Okay, how many of you have read Outcast?_

_Well in one of the AN's I mentioned that I was going to be in my school play, and I'm in four songs (maybe five) and in two of them, I'm one of the goddesses in the Hercules song "I won't say I'm in love," and "Zero to Hero," and the other two songs are Newsies songs. ("Seize the day" and "I'm the King of New York")_

_So I'm a bit happy about that. _

_I mean, I'm opening the second act! That's huge!_

_Review,  
therecordwonstopskipping_


	3. Chapter 3

--rubs forehead--

Ah, I hate myself.

The realities of real life have caught up to me --me almost failing one of my classes, me almost losing my scholarship-- and I can't write any of my stories any more.

But, have no fear!

My two most popular stories:

Ali Di Angel

and

Outcast

are being adopted by _decemberisforcynics_.

Also a fellow writer named after a song lyrics. We're kindred spirits. --winks--

Anyway, they're going to be on her page soon [[probably within the next few hours of me posting this]], and they'll be the same. Well, probably with a few edits, but that's it.

My other stories [[_Playing With Fire, Descended, Backstage Heart Attack, Forgotten Shoes and Broken Hearts, and The Grass Is Always Greener_]] are going to be on HIATUS from now until...

Well, until I can finish them.

Sorry.

therecordwontstopskipping


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